the partisan divide

[verte76]

No matter who wins on Election Day, half the electorate is going to feel ripped off and be bitterly disappointed. There are articles in the press about "why are voters on both sides so angry"? This is scaring the daylights out of me. How'd this happen, and how can we heal this split? Can the "losers" bury the hatchet come the day after the election and accept the voice of the electorate? Ideas from both Americans and non-Americans welcome!

 

[sharky]

Try Election Day 2000 and all that came after it. Bush said he was going to unite us, which he has obviously failed at [among many many other things].

I also think people realized in the 2000 election that their vote really does count and people have educated themselves. Plus, there are issues in this campaign that really do affect everyone -- safety and war and all that stuff.

Should be an interesting two weeks.

 

[BVS]

We need a uniter not a divider in office...oh wait we already have one.

 

[A_Wanderer]

Because public discourse has disintegrated to such a degree over recent years. It began a long time ago but today it is virulent, the Bush Bashing just sickens me, there is no respect for the office anymore, consistent accusations of a monsterous manner, Farenheit 9/11 does not contribute much to the debate - rather rehashes half-truthes and flat out lies all the while making Bush seem like a imbecile - a view which many do seem to embrace with vigour.

I think that people should respect the President regardless of who occupies the office, I would hope that if Kerry were to be elected that people could at least respect the office better than many have these past 3 and a 1/2 years (and when they went after Clinton).

 

[verte76]

Great post, A_Wanderer. Maybe we can have a big Citizen Participation Program in which every citizen feels valued, we fire off our ideas to the big shots, and we regain some respect for an office that's been trashed to hell by cynics.

 

[A_Wanderer]

Also there needs to be more drinking in these threads - it softens the blow (for the Kerry supporters. fingers crossed).

I shall have a variety of spirits ready to go for the election night (or morning/afternoon here) thread, we need to have a non-partisan drinking game. Drink when a state gets called your way pretty soon you get so

 

[verte76]

That's interesting. Drink when a state goes your way? OK, I'll automatically open a beer when they are getting ready to call Massachusetts, New York and other safe Kerry states. When they call my state, I'll just hold up my sign because it's a heavy duty Bush state. My vote isn't going to count in the Electoral College.

 

[nbcrusader]

Try Election Day 2000 and all that came after it. Bush said he was going to unite us, which he has obviously failed at [among many many other things].

I also think people realized in the 2000 election that their vote really does count and people have educated themselves. Plus, there are issues in this campaign that really do affect everyone -- safety and war and all that stuff.

Should be an interesting two weeks.

Actually, there was a great deal of unity in the country. But then the next election cycle returned and poof!

 

[verte76]

Actually, there was a great deal of unity in the country. But then the next election cycle returned and poof!

It's been said, by someone else (not me), that Bush won by a hair and proceeded to govern as if he'd won 49 states. Is this just an illusion created by the politicians and the people who are trying to sell magazines, newspapers and commercials?

 

[nbcrusader]

It's been said, by someone else (not me), that Bush won by a hair and proceeded to govern as if he'd won 49 states. Is this just an illusion created by the politicians and the people who are trying to sell magazines, newspapers and commercials?

If you win, you win.

People who say this have no interest in "unity".

 

[U2democrat]

the bitter divide really saddens me. i wish we could have spirited debate in this country without walking away hating each other.

 

[verte76]

the bitter divide really saddens me. i wish we could have spirited debate in this country without walking away hating each other.

It's getting me down big time. Why all the hate?

 

[verte76]

I just damn near got myself in a crisis because of excessive partisanship. It's so pervasive, it's all over, I admit that I'm soaking up bits and pieces of it and not always being reasonable. Good grief, Bush has been president for almost four years and he hasn't prevented a complete, total change in my life due to a correct diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome in 2001. I refuse to sell my soul to the modern Worship of the Almighty State. Yes, it is possible to take this stuff too seriously.

 

[sharky]

Actually, there was a great deal of unity in the country. But then the next election cycle returned and poof!

It happened before that. Try last year with soldiers dead and no end in sight in Iraq. Or the fact that it took three years to get the 9/11 commission. There are many New Yorkers who were pissed at Bush long before the election cycle began.